and Rise of the Barometer in January 1820. 367 
point. This curious fact, which it would have been difficult to 
explain in ordinary cases, was evidently owing to the walls re- 
taining a temperature below the freezing point, for a consider- 
able time after the air had reached the temperature of 40°, and 
radiating the cold with which they were impressed to the coii-^ 
tiguous bodies. 
Had the cold been of longer duration, or less interrupted by oc- 
casional remissions in its severity, its physiological effects would 
have been more remarkable. During the short time it continued, 
several instances occurred in the vicinity of Perth, of persons 
perishing by its intensity ; domestic animals were found frozen to 
death, in attitudes which proved the sudden cessation of their 
vital functions ; and, in some cases, the trunks of the largest 
trees were reft from top to bottom, by the congelation of their 
juices, in the same manner as if they had been shivered by 
lightning. The damage, in fact, that has been done to stand- 
ing timber, particularly to oaks, elms, and ashes, is probably 
greater than can be easily ascertained, as many of these trees, 
which were a good deal split, have again closed so completely 
since the commencement of the thaw, that the fissures cannot 
now be discovered without a very minute inspection. The 
effect, however, will be more apparent afterwards, by the longir 
tudinal ridges which will appear in the bark. 
We have already seen, that a very sudden and extensive 
change of temperature, amounting to 40% occurred from Tues- 
day to Wednesday the 19th: On the morning of Saturday the 
22d, we experienced another instance of the same kind, and still 
more illustrative of the extreme variableness of our climate, 
the thermometer having risen from one degree below zero to 
60°, in the course of three hours. This change in natural tem- 
perature, which took place here between 8 and 11 o’clock in the 
forenoon of that day, is so remarkable, that it deserves to be 
recorded among the peculiarities of this uncommon season, 
About 6 o’ clock in the afternoon the thaw commenced. 
2. Observations made at Kir^auns near Perth-i — The fol- 
lowing interesting observations upon the state of the Barometer 
and Thermometer were made at Kinfauns by the Reverend 
Robert Gordon, who, when he observed the barometer above 
the usual height, and still rising, registered it at intervals during 
the whole day. 
